‘I’m okay with it,’ he said. ‘We probably need to talk more about what that really means for all of us. For Cam. For the girls. But I’m okay with it. Honestly, Elsa, I don’t see how we have any other choice. I just wanted to know where your head was at.’
‘And the money? For Andrew?’
He glanced at her again. ‘You tell me.’
She swallowed. ‘We’ll find a way.’
Chapter Twenty-One
First thing on Wednesday morning, Judith made her way to Rocky’s office. She knocked on the open door.
‘Do you have a minute?’
‘I do.’ He gestured for her to close the door behind her.
‘I think I might know who she is.’ Judith said.
‘You think you might know whowhois?’
‘Alexis Turner. She gave me a false name and address. She gave Walker a fake student number. She emailed me from a burner email address. I’ve been trying to track her down for days and I’ve got nowhere.’
Rocky leaned back in his chair. ‘And now you think you’ve found her?’
‘Yes. Well, no. But I have a theory. I think she might be Miriam Hall’s little sister, Ruth. And I think Miriam and Ruth Hall might once have been Margaux and Renée Palmer.’
Rocky was frowning.
‘Charlie Palmer’s daughters.’
Rocky’s frown deepened.
‘Charlie Palmer was—’
‘I know who Palmer is. Was. I worked the case.’
It was Judith’s turn to be surprised. It took her a moment to respond.
‘Did you meet Margaux?’
He shook his head. Leaned back in his chair. ‘I was working out of Anglesea Station. We were called in the next day. Everyone was, for crowd control and to search the beach for evidence. By the time I got there Anita’s body had already been found, and the girls had been taken away to the hospital.’
‘There were rumours that Harrison—’
‘The rumours were true,’ Rocky said. ‘Harrison was an arsehole. Everyone in a fifty-mile radius knew that he was one of Palmer’s best buddies. And they didn’t bond over fishing or footy.’
‘The girls?’ Judith said.
Rocky gave a short nod. ‘Palmer slept with anything that moved. The younger the better. Harrison wasn’t much better.’
‘So Palmer had a lot of girlfriends? Not just the girls who disappeared?’
‘All of the women who disappeared looked a little alike. They were all small, dark-haired. They all looked a little like Palmer’s wife, when she was younger. We searched every inch of that house, every inch of the coastline, and we found nothing. What makes you think Miriam was once Margaux?’
Judith took a seat opposite Rocky. She explained about the foster records, about the sealed files.
Rocky gave her all of his attention. ‘I’m not sure it matters whether or not the Hall girls were Palmer’s kids. It seems to me that the key information here is that Miriam Hall once lived with the Giffords. She must have known about Gifford’s guns. She could have told Jack about them. She might even have brought Jack to the house, to visit her old foster parents.’
‘It’s possible. I’ll have to ask them. But Ruth Hall also lived in the house.’ There was a notepad and pen on Rocky’s desk. She reached for both. ‘May I?’
